Towanda to Wellsboro

6/18/2007

The ride to Wellsboro was a nice 60 miles of a few hills, farmland, and a brutal headwind. The wind was a bit of a reality check of how the Midwest is going to be with the flat land but strong winds. The ride was still very pleasant. Here’s one of the many nice views.

Here’s a picture of Sam on the right with a group just finishing a long climb in the background.

Here is a picture of the church we stayed at in Wellsboro.

My bike has been acting up a bit lately with some rear derailleur problems, and fortunately the local bike shop was willing to check the bikes out for free. They spent about 45 minutes on my bike and concluded that the problem was a “warranty issue” and needed a replacement part that they did not have, so unfortunately my bike didn’t get fixed. Nevertheless, the guys at the bike shop were really nice and worked with me even after the bike shop was closed.

Scranton to Towanda

6/17/2007

Today’s ride took us from Clark Summit (just outside Scranton) to a town called Towanda. We covered about 75 miles of hilly terrain that had a lot of farmland, which was new and interesting to see. There were some decent climbs, but overall the ride was not too strenuous. Here are a few pictures. This one is of Bronwynn and Terra on some marshmallows out in the fields.

Evan, Logan, Win, and I

Our destination of Towanda was actually the town we were supposed to shower at in the local YMCA. Unfortunately, our sleeping destination was a town that we had already passed through. We ended up having to wait a couple hours before we actually figured out where we were supposed to go, but on a positive note we ended up getting an interview from a local newspaper. Here’s a group of us hanging out after a long ride.

Eventually we made it to our host church, which was at the base of a hill with a bunch of neat hay bales.

Oh yeah…Happy Father’s Day!

Day off!

6/16/2007

Today was supposed to be a build day, but the Habitat for Humanity organization apparently did not have work that we could do, so we helped out with a car wash this morning and raised over $800! The cars kept coming all morning.

White Lake to Scranton (now in PA!)

6/15/2007


Today was another brutal day that ended up being 75 miles of hills. This was the first day that I felt quite tired and really had to will myself to push on. It was a tough ride today largely because some of the roads were really gravely and had lots of traffic, which makes things more stressful. Nevertheless, we made it. Also, we have a day off tomorrow to recharge.



Made it to PA, which is a really long state and will be our state of residence for the next week or so.



Tonight and tomorrow night we're staying in a church in a town called Clark's Summit just outside of Scranton. Those of you who watch The Office know about Scranton, PA. Unfortunately, I do not care that much about seeing where the show takes place to ride my bike up and down hills to Scranton and back. Maybe some other time.

Poughkeepsie to White Lake

6/14/2007

Today was another great ride. We went about 72 miles to White Lake depending on how many times you got lost. We rode across a beautiful bridge and then did some stretching while checking out the views.


The morning was very peaceful. We rode through some wine country on great roads that allowed us to ride side by side and have good conversation. It was pretty hilly, which seems to be the standard in New England. Here's a nice pic of the group I rode with.



Eventually we found out that one of the roads we were supposed to go on was illegal for bike riders, so we had to figure out another route.


There was one really long climb for a couple miles, but we were rewarded with some breathtaking views and an exhilarating downhill.


We outrode the van for lunch and had to stop at a little pizza place for fuel.


Since some of the turns are hard to follow, we all keep pieces of chalk to mark the road for those behind.


We stayed the night in some camp cabins, which was really nice. In addition, some people of the community drove us to the original site of Woodstock, which was pretty cool.

Kent to Poughkeepsie (now in NY!)

6/13/2007

Today was a nice, easy ride of around 30 miles. A nice break after a brutal day yesterday. The ride was again hilly and beautiful. It was kinda chilly and overcast, but fortunately it didn't rain. The destination of Poughkeepsie is where Vassar College is located, so the group I rode with decided to check it out. It is a very nice campus and was a great spot for us to have lunch.

That night we had dinner and gave the standard Bike & Build presentation at the church we were staying with. As usual, the food was amazing and plentiful. The generosity of our hosts is unbelievable. I really hope that we continue to appreciate our hosts as much as we should throughout the entire trip. Without them (and you donors), this trip would not be possible.

A cool little bridge.

Vassar.

Agawam to Kent (back in CT!)

6/12/2007

We had a pretty epic ride today. I rode sweep today with Sam, which basically means that we brought up the rear of the group to make sure that everybody made it to the destination safely. It was a long, long day. We covered over 70 miles of extremely hilly terrain (definitely the farthest I've ever gone on a bike in one day). We left around 8:30 am and didn't make it to the destination until around 6:40 pm. It was a lot of fun, though. The slower pace of riding at the back of the pack was conducive to plenty of conversation with Sam and the other riders, which was very enjoyable.

While the ride was a lot of fun, there were a few stressful situations. Win ran over a screw and got a big hole in his tire. The "dollar bill trick" worked all right but required frequent refills on air. Then I got a call from Logan and Evan telling me that Derrick took a nasty spill going down the hill and that the route directions were all messed up and that they couldn't get in touch with the van since the cell phone coverage was really patchy in the area. Then there was a thunderstorm that forced a group of us to seek refuge under the porch of a random home. Nobody was there at the time, but a few minutes later the owner arrived making it a bit awkward. The lady was fortunately very nice and did not mind.

Nevertheless, everyone made it to the destination, which was very impressive considering the fact that most of us are not experienced cyclists.

Here are a few pictures. This is our trailer and van. The trailer holds all of our gear while we ride. I've heard some people call this cheating, but come on. I think biking across the country with our without all your gear attached to the bike is a pretty impressive accomplishment.


A beautiful view from the road. It looked like something out of a fantasy book or movie.

What can I say? I fell going about 3 miles per hour. Pretty pathetic. Not really painful but definitely a hit to my pride.

The rain is coming!


The sweeps finally arrive! We stayed the night at the Kent School, which is a private boarding school in CT. The facilities were a lot better than those of any high school I've ever seen.

Pomfret to Agawam (now in MA!)

6/11/2007

Today's ride was from Pomfret to Agawam, MA. The ride was a lot like yesterday's with lots of hills. I'm not really sure how many miles we went, maybe around 50. It was a great ride.

The standard PBJ lunch.



We couldn't find a welcome to MA sign, so this was the best we could do.


Initially the route had us going to Granby, CT, today; however, one of our leaders (Pat) lives in Agawam and thought it would be fun to stay in his parents' house for the night. We all had a great time there. His mom brought out all sorts of toys for us to play with in the backyard. 30 riders staying in one home is pretty wild, and we are all incredibly grateful of Pat's parents for putting us up for the night and providing us with so much food.

Providence to Pomfret (now in CT!)

6/10/2007


The first day of biking was finally here! The format of today was pretty much the same format that we will follow throughout the trip. Wake up at 6 am, pack, take everything out to the trailer(see below), breakfast around 7 or so, stretch, get the bikes ready, go over the route directions, and GO around 8. We have all day to ride but need to get to the destination by 4 pm. Then we meet our hosts and unload the trailer and hopefully shower. Usually dinner with people from the community is at 6 pm followed by our Bike & Build presentation. During the presentation, we show a video and speak about how the trip works and also about affordable housing. Then we answer whatever questions are asked. Free time until lights out at 11 pm.


Being the first day, however, there were a few differences. After breakfast we all rode to the Brown boathouse to dip our rear wheels into the water to mark our start on the East Coast. There were plenty of riders' friends, parents, and past participants there to cheer us on for our celebration. Somehow I managed to draw blood before the day's riding began. Hopefully there won't be too much more of that on the trip!



It begins...


The day's ride itself was pretty sweet. We rode around 40 or 45 miles in the rolling hills of RI and CT. Being from the flattest state of the country (FL), this is a little bit new and certainly a lot more work, but the beauty makes it well worth the effort. There were a few wrong turns during the day, but I predict that will happen just about every day. Thus, when we are told how many miles the route is each morning, we basically can assume that it will be at least 5 more miles that that.

Here are a few pics of the ride.


The group I rode with was beyond the van when it stopped to provide us lunch, so we were all starving by the time we made it to our destination. We went to a little restaurant nearby and had a great time stuffing down a bunch of food.


That night we stayed in a church in Pomfret, which will be pretty typical during the trip. This is a very wealthy area. Renee Zellweger has a home here.







6/10/2007

Build Day in Providence

6/9/2007

Today was our first build day, which basically involves the group helping to build affordable homes with a local housing organization like Habitat for Humanity. Today we worked with the Habitat organization in Providence. We helped construct a house that I believe was largely funded by the fundraising performed by the riders the Providence to Seattle Bike & Build route. It was pretty cool to see our fundraising efforts translated into an actual home.

We spent the morning doing whatever tasks the supervisors needed done, which in my case involved wrapping the house with Tyvek. I initially thought there would be a lot of standing around since we had 30 people working on a single home; however, all 30 of us stayed quite busy the entire time. Unfortunately, the rain came forcing us to stop working after lunch. We had a lot of fun despite the inclement weather.

Orientation in Providence, RI

6/7/2007 - 6/8/2007

We had two days of Bike & Build orientation before we actually set off on our journey across the country. Basically we played some games to get to know one another and had various meetings to learn more about how the trip would work. All 30 people in the group are amazing with their unique interests and experiences. This will be such a wonderful experience!

The picture below is of some of the riders in a parking lot at Brown University where we did some drills after the bike safety session we had with a local bike safety advocate. The guy was surprisingly intense and had us go down a little hill and slam on our breaks to practice quick stopping, among other things.


On day 2 we had lunch at a beautiful park overlooking Providence. We also had a bike maintenance clinic given by two people from REI, but they went extremely fast and showed us a lot of things that we shouldn't really be messing with at this point (limits on derailleurs, etc.)



We had dinner at a church in Providence and gave a presentation about Bike & Build, which will be pretty standard throughout the trip. It was fun walking through Providence during the afternoon and evening. It's a beautiful city, especially since all that I knew about it was from one of my favorite movies Dumb and Dumber, which is actually somewhat relevant to our trip since Harry and Lloyd were on a cross-country trip that started in Providence (though they may not have been working to support the affordable housing cause).

Update

June 16, 2007

It's been a few days since we've had Internet, but now I do have a wireless signal in a Donut Connection in a town near Scranton, PA (anyone watch The Office?). Since I haven't really posted much about the trip so far, I figured I'd put up some pictures of the trip so far. I'll try to write some text as well, but I might get a little tired of it so bear with me.

Nate

First Post!

June 13, 2007

Right now I'm sitting in the library of Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, NY. I haven't had many opportunities to work on my blog, but I just wanted to thank everyone for their donations to Bike & Build on my behalf and keep you all up to date on what is happening. It's our 4th day of biking, and I'm having a wonderful time. Hopefully I'll have more time to write and post pictures, but in the meantime you can check out what's happening on the Providence to Seattle trip at the P2S Route Tracker website. It has journal entries for each day of the trip as well as some pictures.

Also, if you think we're crazy for riding our bikes across the United States, check out my friend from college who is riding his bike from California to Malaysia (maybe with the help of a flight across the Atlantic). His trip makes ours look like a walk in the park.

More later...
Nathan